Tis the Season
by TheSaintRyan
Summary: Ten friends going to UC Berkeley fall in and out of love in all of its forms during their first year, but two among the group might need a little push.


It's almost September when they all head out to Berkeley for college. Tearful goodbyes behind them and anticipation ahead, the friends from Beacon Hills await their educations. Stiles, his hair grown out after high school and his body filled out- layers and layers of camouflage cast aside, is disappointed to learn that he won't be rooming with his best friend but they are both excited nonetheless. Stiles arrives at his dorm and walks into to see a young woman with dark brown hair stripping off her shirt with her back to the door. He flounders a bit, averting his eyes and having them drawn back to the lean lines of her toned back only to repeat the motion a few times before turning away entirely. The woman clears her throat and Stiles turns quickly, tripping over his bag and sprawling to the floor. "Oh sorry I'm uh, I'm your roommate I guess." He says, holding out his hand. She glances down at it and back up to his eyes a few times before taking it and shaking. "I'm Greenberg," she says and he replies "Stiles. Nice to meet you."

Greenberg wastes no time in explaining the rules of their shared living space: One, no huge parties on weeknights. Two, if you go out for a huge party be quiet coming in or find somewhere else to stay. Three, I am here to pursue two degrees simultaneously, not make friends. Four, I am not interested in your penis.

Stiles accepts the rules graciously and gets to work unpacking his things. There's a knock at the door, though, and Stiles opens it to see the most incredible specimen of the human form he's ever seen outside of Greek mythology. The man is about the same height as him, well-muscled with olive skin and peculiar eyes and short dark hair. He has a very angry expression on his face, which suits him surprisingly well. "I heard a crash, everything alright in here," the man says, directing his question right over Stiles' shoulder to Greenberg. "Derek, if I needed your help I'd have called for you. Now get the hell out of my doorway and stop intimidating the freshman." The man, Derek, rolls his eyes and turns to leave after giving Stiles one final meandering and ultimately pissed off stare.

"Who. The hell. Was that?" Stiles asks and Greenberg laughs loudly. "That, dear little lamb, is Derek. He's the RA for these dorms. He's also a grumpy loner and SO far out of your league it's not even funny." Stiles squawks indignantly and says "well good because I wasn't interested in him anyway. Now I'm going to go find my friends and absolutely not talk about that monster lurking these halls." Greenberg's laugh follows him out the door.

He finds Scott fairly quickly, by wandering the halls and shouting "Scott!" until he gets an answer from one of the rooms. Scott is unpacked already, sitting on his bed and chatting with a young man. "Stiles! There you are. This is my roommate, Isaac." Isaac turns to the doorway and waves, happiness clear in his blue eyes, and then runs a hand through his unruly, curly blonde hair. "Isaac," Scott says, "this is my best friend Stiles." The two men shake hands and then they all go back to talking until there's a knock at the doorway and a voice (which sounds suspiciously like Greenberg, Stiles thinks) announcing a party that night to welcome all the incoming Freshmen. They decide to go.

Even though they're fairly early the party is already in full swing when the three of them arrive. Red solo cups are quickly placed in each of their hands and they get separated by the tides of people moving through the apartment. After about an hour of trying and failing to hold a conversation with anyone who seems interesting, Stiles is about to give up when he hears "Stilinski!" echo out of the kitchen, he turns and sees fiery red hair and ferocious green eyes and he smiles brightly. "Lydia? I thought you'd be going to MIT or something! What are you doing at Berkeley?" Lydia smiles back at him and grabs him into a hug, "well I could have gone anywhere I wanted but I decided that I'd rather stay close to home at first. And besides, someone has to be around to look after you and Scott, right?" She says and Stiles laughs brightly. "I guess that's true. Still, wouldn't expect to see you at some freshman orientation party. Aren't you already running the seniors by now?" Stiles asks and Lydia nods sagely. "What, I can't do both?"

Lydia suddenly smiles brightly over his shoulder and Stiles turns to see three women walking towards them with red cups in their hands. "Ah, Stiles. Let me introduce you to my roommate Allison and her friends..." Lydia says and a girl with dark brown hair supplies "Erica, and Cora. I met them in my SAT study group and we all ended up getting in here so." Erica, the one who looks like she just stepped out of a 60's motorcycle gang; all red lips and sharp white teeth and disarming smiles, shakes hands with Lydia and Stiles in turn as Allison introduces them. Cora, who looks a bit younger but distractingly familiar with her olive skin and dark hair and perfectly cut features, says hi to them both but keeps her eyes firmly locked on Stiles.

After a while Stiles ends up outside, enjoying the slight breeze, when Cora steps up beside him and bumps their shoulders together. "Crazy right," she says, and at a confused glance from Stiles continues, "college and everything. Independence. It's just weird." Stiles nods and says, "yeah. My roommate is kinda crazy I think. But she's funny. It sucks that me and my best friend couldn't get a room together but our parents thought it would be good to branch out I guess." Cora laughs and it's explosive, like a sudden clap of thunder even though the skies above are blue. Stiles thinks he might like college.

Inside, Erica is chatting excitedly with Lydia about a class that the two of them seem to have together and they trade information they've gathered on the teacher. Allison, meanwhile, turns the hall corner to head to the bathroom and runs straight into one of the cutest boys she's ever seen. He looks like something out of a catalog that pretentious teen boys shop from, from his curly hair to his bright eyes and tall, lean, body. It seems at some point he lost his shirt, and Allison's eyes drip down his torso, mapping a few freckles and the trail leading down his middle from between his nipples into the waistband of his dark, tight jeans. Once her eyes make their way up to meet his, she realized that she's just ran into someone and then spent the first thirty seconds checking them out instead of apologizing. "Sorry," she rushes, but he shrugs and then another young man comes out of the bathroom clutching a shirt. "Sorry dude, I think the fruit punch is gonna stain" he says before his attention is drawn to her. "Oh, hi!" He says with a warm smile, "I'm Scott and this is my roommate Isaac." Allison shakes their hands and then awkwardly shuffles to the side and points at the bathroom door. "Oh shoot, sorry. I guess we are kinda just blocking the way. Nice to meet you um..." Scott starts, slinging his arm around Isaac to start guiding him out of them way. "Allison," she says before rushing into the bathroom, locking the door, and staring in disbelief at the mirror. (Of course they're gay, she thinks.)

By the time Allison finds Cora, she's sitting on a sofa and talking loudly with Erica, Lydia, Scott, Isaac, and Stiles. Allison looks at Scott and Isaac in abject horror before slinking down to sit next to Lydia, who is currently debating rather passionately the pros and cons of a potential Wonder Woman movie and who should play her. "Two words for you!" Cora interrupts, "Gina. Torres." Which receives a round of agreement and brings a general break into the conversation. Scott nods excitedly, proudly announcing that he's had a crush on Gina Torres since Firefly was on. Allison smiles a bit at that, but she notices that Isaac seems slightly disappointed. She finds this very interesting. Soon, the group is separating out to get more drinks or find the bathroom or, in Lydia's case, head back to their room. Allison is left with Stiles and Isaac as they have a rather intense discussion.

"Now listen here," Stiles starts, "I have known Scott for like, a million years okay? And I'm not going to tell you not to go for it, but I think you need to really prepare yourself, you know? You need to know what's what because, and no offense, you are in for some tough competition." Isaac nods, and Allison notes that he seems to have shrunken down, compacted into himself. "I just don't want to scare him off you know? It's the first night after all. I don't want him to think I'm some creep." "Oh nooooo don't even worry about that," Stiles interrupts, "Scott sees the best in everyone. I'm just saying that he tends to be interested in girls more so you might need to step up your game. However, dude, losing your shirt? Major props for that. That was a good move. Oh, hey Allison!" Stiles finishes, only noticing her once he flails out his left arm and smacks her square in the neck. Allison laughs it off, and then innocently says "what are we talking about?" Isaac looks down at the floor but Stiles boldly proclaims "I'm just trying to hook up two of my good friends." Which is about the time that Scott arrives back with more drinks for everyone. "Who are you trying to hook up?" Scott asks, and Stiles just laughs and laughs. The song changes and Allison jumps up, excited. "This is my song!" She says and Scott nods enthusiastically. "Mine too. Let's dance!"

Stiles watches on, amused, and a devious grin spreads across his face. He hands Isaac a shot of rum and nods encouragingly. Isaac obliges him and downs it. "Go dance with them," he challenges as Cora finds her way back over to the couches where they're sitting. She sets her drink on the coffee table, narrowly missing a coaster, and drops herself down into Stiles' lap, wrapping her arm around his neck and laughing. Isaac steels his nerve and gets up, walking behind Allison and catching Scott's eye. They all start dancing together, Allison in between the two roommates and their hands all sliding and ghosting along as they move intricately together like a tiny clockwork ballet- intimate and exploratory. Stiles and Cora are entranced, a moment, before they look at each other and laugh some more. Cora's face becomes very serious, all of a sudden, and she says "Stiles. I really like you so I want to let you know something. I'm gay. And I think Erica is sex on a stick. I want to climb her like a tree," she says, breaking down and laughing towards the end. Stiles smiles at her, "thanks for telling me," he says, "and I totally agree on the whole Erica thing." Stiles watches Cora's face pale and he turns to look at Erica, bending over the back of the couch behind them and smirking, holding a cup poised at her red lips. "What whole Erica thing?" She asks in a slurred, saccharine voice. "Oh, nothing." Cora says as she leaps from Stiles' lap (ignoring his indignant "excuse me, who's going to keep me warm now?") and making her way out to the balcony under the pretense of smoking a cigarette. Stiles' attention is brought suddenly back to the dancers in the middle of the room.

Scott is cupping the back of Isaac's head as Allison kisses his neck. He parts his mouth in a gasp that Isaac echoes. Isaac's hands appear to be simultaneously rubbing Allison's breast and grabbing at Scott's ass desperately. Scott's other arm is making it's way up Allison's torso when it suddenly stills. Isaac is kissing him and Scott's brown eyes go wide in surprise and then close as he returns it. Allison smiles brightly and then pulls away as the song changes, leaving Isaac and Scott kissing a moment longer before they separate. The three of them look happy, and Stiles is not one to judge, so he considers his job as wing man more than a success and decides to call it a night. He walks back to his room and finds it locked when he returns. From inside he hears "rule number two" sleepily mumbled by Greenberg and smiles despite himself. When he arrives back at the party he finds only Cora and Erica (talking on the balcony with some serious gesticulating involved,) and several other students sleeping around the room. He sits on the couch next to one guy with a wide, easy smile. They chat for a bit before Stiles falls asleep.

When Stiles wakes up, Cora is cuddled up with him on the couch. The guy he was talking to before he passed out is gone and, oddly, so is Erica. Since it's now mid-morning, Stiles wakes Cora up to let her know he's leaving. They head to their separate dorms. On the way, Stiles stops and gets two coffees. Greenberg looks appreciative when she opens the door to see him, grabbing one coffee and returning to her insane workload. As he reclines on his bed, listening to very frustrated typing from Greenberg and the occasional "fucking hell" muttered by the woman he feels a very intense optimism for this college experience. Then there's a knock on their door.

"Stiles," Scott says once the door is open, "I'm pretty sure I had a threesome last night." From Greenberg's corner of the room a chuckle can be heard. Stiles suppresses a grin only by focusing on the distress clear in Scott's eyes. "Well, uh. Congrats I guess." Stiles says lamely. Scott whines and rushes past him, pacing a few times before sitting on Stiles' bed. "I don't know what to do! I mean, I like Isaac but I like Allison and they both like me and each other but..." Scott's rant is cut short by a cackle from Greenberg, followed by the words "so date each other." Scott seems to find this an acceptable answer, or at the very least is considering it, when there is a knock at the door again.

"Greenberg. Stilinski." Says Derek menacingly. Or, it's a pretty convincing attempt at menacing until he catches sight of Scott over Stiles' shoulder and kind of quietly adds, "Um... McCall?" Stiles once again has to hold back a laugh, though Greenberg is sporting a very wide and devilish grin. "Yes, _sir?"_ she says and he raises one thick eyebrow at the way she purrs the word sir. "Uh" says Derek, before she interrupts and sweetly says "Please get the hell out of my room." Apparently deciding that whatever he was going to be angry about isn't actually worthy of this, Derek turns tail and literally flees from their doorway. Stiles is now certain that he is preordained to have an awesome time at college.

By October, Scott has fallen headfirst into a looking-glass of polyamory, a thing that until recently he thought was called 'cheating.' After some serious discussion following that first party, Allison him and Isaac came to an agreement: Since all of them are equally interested in each other, why not skip the love-triangle drama and instead just skip ahead to the threesome aspect. There are rules, not yet steadfast or carved in stone but some sort of easy truce among the three of them.

The dates are always entertaining, plenty of conversation and sharing laughter at the looks waitstaff and the like- one memorable incident regarding a sour look of recognition flashing across the face of a movie concession person for an instant after witnessing Scott kiss Allison's cheek while Isaac wrapped an arm easily around Scott's waist. And the sex. The sex is something Scott never even imagined for himself. The three of them together is like a complex waltz choreographed thousands of years before any of them had ever even dreamed of gasping and panting in the backseats of cars in summer. It was like an epic poem penned by someone in the midst of a heatwave delirium. Having always known that the breadth of his romantic interest spread beyond just the female body Scott fell into this new experience surprisingly easy given his immediate reservations, and he found himself wondering why he had never thought of this before.

Stiles, meanwhile, is involved in a threesome of his own. In his first Scott-less period since pre-K Stiles has found himself getting along famously with Cora and Greenberg. The latter, a legendary party-thrower and famously ferocious 20-year-old genius who is well on her way to being a journalist (with degrees for Gender and Women's studies and a minor in LGBT* studies already under her belt,) has taken the two under her wing. Her advice, as a veteran to the college scene, is fairly invaluable and Stiles spends his days and nights soaking up her wisdom while Cora tags along for the ride. They spend their hours (while not in class) together, getting coffee and studying or walking around campus. As the days turn to weeks and Greenberg's classes get closer and closer to finals she spends increasing amounts of time locked away in their dorm or hiding in the library. This leaves Stiles and Cora alone to chat.

"I wonder how Scott's doing," Stiles says one such morning, "with this whole... three-way-polyamorous-bisexual.. thing?" Cora stifles a laugh at his word choice but replies "probably better than we are being single. I wonder what Erica's been up to." Stiles counters with a, "I think we think about other people too much," and the two of them continue on their stroll.

Stiles generally has considered himself a very open-minded person. He has given an incredible amount of thought and time towards wondering exactly what kind of person he is; his likes and dislikes, his gender identity and its relation to his physical sex, the way he wants to present himself to the public, etc. He has eaten up queer literature (especially after Scott came out as bi, he remembers) for a number of years and could probably speak on queer issues on a level that rivals some of the teachers at Berkeley. That said, something about Scott's current relationship has been eating at Stiles all along. The fact that he is so profoundly upset about something but simultaneously unaware of the issue at hand is so troubling that Stiles finds himself approaching Greenberg one night, despite the fact that she is neck deep in books, and clearing his throat quietly. "Ahem" he says, again after receiving no response. Greenberg turns to look him in the eye, ostensibly seconds from murder charges, and holds up the signal for 'five minutes.'

"Alright so Scott is in his crazy threesome relationship right? And I totally love Scott, I support him being happy above pretty much anything and almost to an altruistic extent at times so the fact that I am troubled, somehow, by his relationship is eating away at me because I really support all forms of queer love and I need help. You, Greenberg, are the smartest person I have ever met- by the way please don't tell Lydia I ever said that if you two meet- and I need you desperately to tell me why I feel like a shitty friend please?"

By now Greenberg has only two of her initial five fingers up and she uses her other hand to support her head as it drops forward into her palm and she sighs deeply. "For Christ's sake Stiles seriously? You're jealous because this relationship is taking up even more of Scott's time and energy than a quote-end-quote _normal_ relationship and you probably feel some abandonment since you guys go back so far and also you're still in the first few months of your college career so everything seems scary and crazy. Get used to it."

She spends the entire last minute berating him and then telling him to leave and not come back until tomorrow. (She also tells him that he's dumb sometimes but she loves him, in general, for a given value of love.) Stiles leaves feeling better, but also kind of worse off. Knowing the why behind his distance from Scott doesn't make it any less, well, distant and even Greenberg's special brand of support can't break him out of his funk. Since Cora is probably studying somewhere so that she can become an Architect like her father, Stiles decides to head to the closest source of good coffee. Entering the cafe, spider webs slung here and there to remind people to spend extra on holiday-themed specials, Stiles finds himself walking directly into a solid wall. The wall is warm to the touch and seems to be breathing at a fairly even pace. The wall has a face. The person Stiles has just walked directly into is the same person Stiles talked to on the couch after the party on their first night. "Oh, hello again." Stiles says, quietly, before backing up a couple paces and smiling. The man's black-coffee eyes narrow in thought before widening in recognition and he says "Yeah! Couch-kid with the friends who pretty much had a threesome in my living room. Uh, Miles right?" Stiles laughs and corrects him, and the two of them decide to catch up once they've purchased their drinks.

Once they're outside again the man, Boyd, turns to look at Stiles and says, apropos of nothing, "you seem like you could use some advice or something. You've looked like you wanted to ask me something the whole time we were ordering so what's up?" Stiles stops, tilting his head, and blushes noticeably before saying, "oh come on, I can't go demanding advice from people when I'm first meeting them." But Boyd insists, "you're hardly demanding. I'm asking."

Stiles nods twice, taking a deep breath, and then paraphrases his situation using only initials (so as not to accidentally out anyone, you see) and Boyd has the nerve to outright laugh without apology for a while before saying, "You know, Stiles, I can actually relate to this pretty well. I've previously considered myself a pretty straight-laced guy. Always been able to appreciate beauty in men and women but had no sexual attraction to guys- though I admit I don't know what the future holds- and I've never cheated on a girl, nothing. And you know I'd really consider myself an ally to the queer community, being black and all I understand systematic shit-storming so I can empathize, you know? I just never thought of myself like that. But recently I met these two really smart, hot, powerful women. Just real solid ladies, man. And they kind of fought over me at a party right? And jokingly I say, y'know, 'There's plenty of me to go around, ladies,' or whatever. And these two women stop arguing mid sentence, and look at me and back at each other. And at the same damn time, they both shrug and say 'I'm alright with that.' And now I'm in my first polyamorous relationship just like your friend, right?"

Stiles laughs at the honest absurdity of this, and Boyd continues, "so I'm in this relationship now and I had never even considered this. I was raised in the church and my granny would call this cheating. But both these women are so awesome, right, so I can't really just cut one out to save face, and I want to be with both of them anyway because like Erica, right, she's a fucking wolf or something I swear. Erica is the definition of a man-eater and she looks damn good in leather. But Lydia, right, she's a fucking genius and she doesn't even have to dress up like a dominatrix she will just calmly let you know what you are going to do and it works, man, it works with the three of us. But I see what you mean, from an outside perspective I would say that the three of us are pretty self-involved at this point as we figure out our relationship, y'know, but stick with them man. Chances are if your friend found two people that he decided to involve so intimately in his life, they're good people."

Stiles feels suddenly like the whole world tilts on its axis and snaps into focus and he smiles bigger than he has in a few weeks and then he replays what Boyd just said and wait- Erica? Lydia? Both the descriptions fit but that would mean- but then Cora thinks that Erica- but then.

Once his brain has escaped from that loop of thought and he realizes that he hasn't said anything in response to that super slammin' advice he says "shit, man. Thanks for that. You really did help a lot. I have to go find my friend, though. We have a study date." Boyd nods his understanding and says, flatly, "You know Stiles if you need to talk, I'm around. I am a Psych major for a reason, after all." Stiles nods emphatically, can always use a new set of ears since he tires them out so quickly, and shouts something about his appreciation as he makes haste to the library.

"Wait," says Cora into the book she's reading, "so Erica isn't straight?" Stiles is taking her quiet refusal to look at him as a bad sign and says, hopefully helpfully, "well technically I don't know the sexual dynamic of their relationship so I can't really speak to her sexuality but she is, apparently, dating a man and woman at the same time." Cora kind of claws at the air for a second before turning to Stiles and just breaking. Stiles holds her there, in the library at near 11'o'clock, because he loves her and also because he needs to stay with her tonight because he bugged Greenberg earlier. When he tells her this, she laughs and then punches his arm. He thinks it's a start.

When she knocks on the door, Allison has a split second reaction to turn tail and run. The feeling passes and she has a smile back on her face by the time Boyd is pulling the door open. Scott, dressed as 'Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist Tony Stark' shouts "trick or treat!" from her right. Isaac, from behind her, says "happy Halloween!" Allison holds up her- hawkeye-'s bow as if she were going to shoot herself with it. Boyd smiles and invites them in. Erica is standing in the kitchen, contrasting with the linoleum in her black vinyl catsuit and cat mask. Lydia, dressed as the black widow, is chatting with her while pouring an alarming number of drinks from an enormous pitcher. Stiles is sitting on the couch, wearing a batman costume that's clearly been worn before, and talking enthusiastically with Cora and another girl, neither of whom seem to have dressed up for the costume party. Allison's attention is taken by Lydia who has suddenly made her way across the apartment and is holding out some apple-pie punch which tastes a lot like plain apple cider. As she drinks some more of the punch, Allison has an odd feeling that something bad is about to happen. She sits down in a free chair in the living room section (this apartment is surprisingly big, she thinks, it seems much larger than last time of course there were more people last time) and then her attention is pulled to her boyfriend- well, Scott anyway- who is wrapped around Stiles and for some reason the two are arguing over who should be apologizing (but in any case, she thinks, at least they aren't moping any more.)

Cora, meanwhile, decides that she needs more punch so she leaves her spot next to Stiles, which Scott topples over into, and heads for the kitchen. Immediately her eyes are trapped within the firm black lines of Erica's full length poured into smooth black vinyl and she drops the cup, thankfully empty, that she was carrying. Erica smiles and bends over, at the waist and not the knee, to pick up the cup for her but her eyes have broken free and glued themselves to the ceiling. Erica laughs as she places the cup in Cora's hand and she giggles again after she pours more punch in and steals a sip. Her lipstick stains the cup. By the time she's sat back down Cora has a decidedly less happy demeanor and has turned the cup so that the lipstick is facing away from her and toward the left. As other people show up and the apartment fills with people and activity Cora begins to smile more and genuinely gets into a good mood and enjoys the ridiculousness of a bunch of drunk people being together but every so often her eyes catch a shiny black form and it's like she's a beacon. She finds solace, again, on the balcony with her cigarettes and lighter. The cup with the lipstick stain remains sitting on the coffee table in the living room, right next to a coaster.

After a few hours or ten minutes or maybe even a week Stiles steps out onto the balcony to escape from the heat and he finds her out there. He sits next to her and she turns to look at him and just says "she's teasing me. She knows I like her and she's flirting with me for fun." Stiles isn't sure what to say. He settles for "that's some middle school bullshit" and Cora laughs a bit. "At least our lives aren't too bad," Stiles says. "for example, other people are worse off. Like... like the RA to my dorm! He is like a tar pit of sadness! His life must be awful." Cora gives him an odd look but he continues on, "oh what was his name? Derek I think. He bugs me and Greenberg at least once a week about some stupid violation." Cora laughs a lot for a while and then says through her tears "Derek is my brother." Stiles should have seen this coming.

For the first few weeks of November, Allison is too distracted by declaring her official major to be business with a minor in French and doing an inordinate amount of planning for the next few years that she doesn't really even think about Thanksgiving. Until she does, of course, and responds by sitting up straight in bed and stifling a scream. Allison is in love, equally, with two amazing men. Allison wants her partners to meet her parents. Her parents, however, would hardly respond well to one boyfriend, much less two. Allison is suddenly overwhelmed by a sudden realization that this relationship is a whole lot more complicated than she might have initially thought. Allison is flooded with dread, and then lays back down and goes back to sleep- she has a test in the morning after all.

Cora stands, apprehensive, outside of Stiles and Greenberg's door. Her posture would be best characterized as 'defensive' and her eyes might be described as 'guarded.' She knocks a few times and hears Greenberg say "seriously?" from inside. Stiles opens the door and yanks Cora inside, closing the door quickly and miming 'volume control' to her. Cora says "no fuck that I need advice" and Greenberg sighs very, very deeply and turns away from her desk (and stack of at least ten books) and says "you have five damn minutes." Cora raises an eyebrow in question but the senior merely raises her five fingers. Cora inhales and says, "I'm actually really crazy upset about this whole Erica thing because I have been in love with her for like five years and she always turned me down because she doesn't like women, right? But now she's in some crazy fucking three-way relationship with another woman and she flaunts it in my face, flirts with me and then turns around and kisses Lydia and it's bullshit, right? But I can't like... just move on. I still really like her even though she's being shitty so like what the fuck."

Greenberg stares at her a long moment and then says, "why are you guys having so much trouble accepting other people's choices and relationships? If she turned you down then it's probably because she isn't interested in you which, sucks, but you have to get over it. She doesn't owe you anything. Yeah, her behaviour is shitty but so is yours so..." She sits there, thinking for a moment, and then concludes with "shit like this is half the reason I'm glad I'm ace. Sexual feelings complicate shit too much. Just go hang out with Stiles, go to a bar or something, meet some sexy girl or whatever but stop obsessing over this girl because it's kind of embarrassing Now both of you get the hell out of my room and let me study."

Stiles and Cora leave, walking out into the chilly evening and heading directly for their favourite cafe. They get pumpkin spice lattes because, well, 'tis the season, and then head off towards a nearby trail they like to walk sometimes. After a while of the two of them chatting, discussing Greenberg's frank but incredibly accurate advice, Stiles says "gosh I'm lonely." Cora huffs, feigning offense, and he amends, "present amazing company excluded. I just feel like it's always the same, it's just us all the time." Cora nods and then suggests innocently "why don't we invite Derek to walk with us? He's always alone and he likes this trail." Stiles kind of... flails a bit and nearly falls over himself in his haste to shut down this idea as quickly as possible but Cora is already on the phone and telling Derek to meet her so he might as well give up.

Having resigned himself to his fate, Stiles is sitting patiently on a random large rock and Cora is leaning next to him. They're chatting about some movies that look good when he suddenly spots a person jogging towards them. Stiles is entranced by the man until he gets close enough and Stiles recognizes Derek's features; he then averts his eyes. Derek arrives with his trademark scowl on his face (sparing an instant during which he smiled while saying hi to Cora) and gives Stiles a thoroughly unimpressed up-and-down. Stiles smiles warmly and says "fancy meeting you here," to which Derek grunts "I was invited." Stiles nods for a while and then says "okay well lets get walking."

Cora has decided that so far, out of everything, getting to watch Stiles and Derek try desperately to out-awkward each other is her favourite part of college. The two men speak to each other in alternating monologues (from Stiles) and half-sentences or grunts (from Derek,) though nonetheless they seem to be getting on quite well so Cora just walks a couple paces behind them and eavesdrops with glee. Stiles is currently reciting an impressive amount of Shakespearean soliloquy's and Derek is absentmindedly nodding along when Cora decides to interject with a list of silly stage directions culminating with [exit, pursued by a bear.] This leaves Derek laughing, deeply in a way Cora hasn't seen in the past two years, and Stiles having to lean against Derek's arm to support himself as he struggles to breathe. At the end of their hike Stiles and Derek seem to be on, at least, speaking terms and Cora considers her job well done.

By the time it's the day before thanksgiving Isaac knows that because other people won't give his relationship as much support as his friends do he's going to have to stay behind and let Allison introduce her mom and dad to Scott. Since they decided which of the boys gets to go with her by flipping a coin he can't feel too bad about it, so he's just wondering what he's going to do for the holiday. He doesn't have much family to go back to and wouldn't want to even if he could afford it so he'll just have to find some other students who are staying on campus. He runs into Erica in the library and she admits readily that her relationship is in the same situation and she has decided, also, to stay on campus. It's then that the two of them turn a corner and run into Stiles (who totally was NOT eavesdropping at all) who decides that despite the two of them seeming to be fine and without any concept at all of potential conflict, invites the two of them over to his and Greenberg's for a sad little thanksgiving celebration. They accept and Stiles is even more excited for this holiday, and excuses himself to go let Greenberg know that they'll need two extra places at the (coffee) table.

Cora is less than thrilled when Stiles tells her and Greenberg (who have been cooking and setting up for hours, thank you Stiles where the hell were you?) about inviting Isaac and Erica. Cora doesn't trust easy, a trait which runs in the family, and while she knows at this point that she doesn't have the energy to even put on a front for how much she dislikes Erica, she also doesn't know Isaac enough to open up around him. She expresses her discomfort in a mature way; namely by tossing the centerpiece she was about to place against the wall and leaving the room. Greenberg and Stiles look at each other for a minute before she says, "I like her."

Before Stiles can rush out to find Cora, Greenberg makes sure to inform him that he has to help her set the table or else. Stiles is concerned about what the 'or else' implies, and decides it's best not to find out. After they've set the table (plus the two additional last-minute additions) it's looks like it will be a fairly cramped and undecorated, utilitarian though somehow homey, thanksgiving. Task at hand completed, Stiles walks out the door and calls Cora. She answers immediately. "What took you so long, douche bag?" Stiles laughs and replies, "Greenberg made me finish setting up before she let me come after you." It's Cora's turn to laugh, and she says "meet me at the cafe" while Stiles can hear her footsteps in the background. He redirects his trajectory accordingly and tells her he'll be there in five.

Six minutes later Stiles opens the door to the cafe and is immediately confronted with a bear hug from Cora (since she is not usually a tactile sort of person Stiles knows that he made a big mistake) which he returns happily. They get some lattes and sit in two comfy chairs in The Coffee Lab, just off campus. Halfway through their coffee, Cora says "sorry for freaking out, I'm just pissed at Erica and I wanted thanksgiving to be just... family. Just you and Greenberg and Derek." Stiles nods, apologizes for not thinking first about anyone's feelings, and then begs forgiveness. Cora laughs and calls him an idiot and then hugs him again. "I'm really glad," she says quietly into his ear, "that I met you Stiles." Stiles returns the sentiment.

Isaac is a little bit intimidated by Erica. For one she looks like she could kick his ass without trying, for two she is some sort of modern-day goddess and is a literal embodiment of sex. For three, the look in her eyes sometimes verges on 'I would totally kill someone for fun.' Now is one of the times when her usual predatory smile verges on the psychotic edge of the scale and Isaac is, understandably, a bit apprehensive about this dinner. Nonetheless he's here, and though he flinches when she knocks on the door, and also when Greenberg opens the door, and though he may need a beer in his hand desperately already, he intends to eat some good food and have a good time.

After a grand total of four seconds Greenberg stops what she's saying to Cora and turns to face Erica abruptly. She says, "Listen up. I really don't like the 'rebel without a cause' attitude you're giving off and the murderous gaze you're directing at one of my guests is quite frankly pissing me off so either knock it off or get the hell out and make your own damn dinner." Erica stares at her, seemingly calculating, and then smiles a wide, honest, sweet smile. "I like you," Erica says; to which Greenberg rolls her eyes. After about an hour of easy conversation between the five of them, Derek arrives and the awkward look on his face is honestly priceless. Since he's just in time for dinner Cora forces him down into the spot she just vacated, next to Stiles, and then sits herself down across from Isaac. Greenberg pours everyone a glass of spiked apple cider, and then sits at the head of the table. Their meal is actually fairly impressive: Greenberg and Cora boiled potatoes on a hot plate for mashed potatoes; Greenberg made gravy from scratch, her mother's recipe she says; Cora bullied a member of her study group whose family sent home-made dinner rolls into giving her some; Greenberg bribed the kitchen staff to cook her turkey for her.

Dinner is pleasant, if slightly tense. For all Derek adds to the conversation his seat may as well be occupied by a doll, while Erica and Cora spend most of the time avoiding each others eyes. Isaac, Greenberg, and Stiles carry on a conversation about family traditions on thanksgiving, which Stiles endearingly refers to as "Turkey Slaughter Celebratory Feast Day" and by the time everyone is full of food there's already cries for liquor. Greenberg tops off everyone's apple cider and then heads for the kitchen, from which she pulls out a wide variety of liquor and beer. She then says, "Stiles, prepare to break rule #1 because we're about to get wasted on a Thursday," to which Stiles cheers and Derek begins to scowl before Cora smacks his arm and says "lighten up grumpy, it's a holiday."

After a bit too much of the spiked cider, Derek actually smiles and laughs at a joke Cora tells, and Stiles is concerned that it may be a sign of the impending apocalypse. When he says this to Greenberg she laughs, loud and open. "Derek may seem grumpy," she says a little too loud for their topic of conversation not to overhear, "but he has a big heart. Well he must, to fill those huge pecs." Cora is shrieking with laughter as she says, "amen, sister!" Derek seems less than amused, though he still isn't scowling so it seems like progress. Isaac heads out to the balcony for a cigarette and Stiles decides to follow since they were in the middle of a conversation about the viability of various possible comic-book-to-movie adaptations that would be awesome. Once out in the chill of autumn the tone of their talk turns serious. "So, I just wanted to like, apologize I guess about taking your best friend. I know it must be hard." Isaac says, and Stiles immediately shakes his head and says, "no no no. I'm glad he's happy. Yeah it was hard at first, we've been together since day care! But he's happy and new relationships take a lot of time and effort and I fully support you guys. I'm really glad he got paired with you. And besides, I have Cora and Greenberg who is the most bad ass roommate ever. So don't even worry. And dude, if you ever wanna chill just hit me up. I know where all the best coffee shops are, and Greenberg can get discounts pretty much anywhere." Isaac smiles, brightly, and agrees to do so. Stiles continues, "And besides, I love you dude."

Derek is on his way out the patio door with Cora, who insists on smoking despite Derek's constant complaints and warnings, when Stiles says this. He stands out on the patio behind Cora for a while as the three freshmen make idle conversation before he decides to flee. His heart is thundering in his chest and he feels like he might be ill (initially he suspects alcohol poisoning but the Hale clan are notoriously hearty drinkers and he knows he hasn't had _that_ much) so he makes some feeble choking noises that he hopes resemble a reasonable excuse and then leaves quickly.

Stiles stares after Derek's retreating back until his line of sight is interrupted by the slamming door and then he turns to Cora and demands, "what the _fuck_ was that?" She shrugs, a sly smile tugging at her mouth, and replies, "you'd have to ask Derek. He's crazy." She shrugs again and returns to her conversation with Isaac (they've continued the original conversation about comic book movies and she's currently arguing in zealous favour for a Wonder Woman movie, again) and Stiles follows along for a while before he heads back inside for another drink. On his way back out to Isaac he passes by Greenberg who is asking Cora about her brother's behaviour. She repeats her shrugging from before and Stiles passes by as she says "it was probably S-ss-something. Who knows." The two women share a laugh and Stiles is confused as he heads out the door. Isaac is leaning against the railing, sipping from his beer while a cigarette (most likely bummed from Cora, since she's the only one who smokes) dangles between his long fingers. Stiles stops, admiring the chiaroscuro of the harsh patio lighting, and Isaac catches his eye, smiling around a drag of smoke.

"I kinda wanna get out of here." Stiles says and Isaac nods. "Wanna head back to my room? Scott's with Allison at her parent's place but we could watch a movie or whatever." Stiles smiles and agrees. The two boys head out, ignoring the group, and Isaac takes drags of his cigarette as he walks. "I didn't know you smoke," Stiles says and Isaac replies "most people don't. I picked it up in High School but I don't smoke all that often." When they get to Isaac's room they sit on his bed as he pulls up a movie on his laptop. Part way through, Stiles finds himself watching Isaac more than the movie, and eventually the young man turns away from the screen to look back. He smiles, small, and says in a little voice "you know, this thing with me and Scott and Allison is open, right?" Stiles nods a few times, and then they kiss. Isaac says, "I want to sleep with you," after a while and Stiles says "for the record this is me freely and enthusiastically giving my consent." It's a quiet affair, slow and gentle. Afterwords, in between kisses Stiles (who hasn't quite picked out a major but is enjoying his English classes especially and has always been a fan of poetry) says, "I like my body when it is with your body." Isaac kisses him again and Stiles says "I think I might be gay." Isaac laughs, and they fall asleep together.

In the morning Stiles expects it to be awkward, but when Isaac wakes up they just go on chatting like normal. They both agree that they enjoyed it, but aren't really interested in pursuing a relationship since, as Stiles puts it, "Scott is my best friend and even though having sex with his boyfriend is totally kosher I don't really want to be part of this complex rhombus of a relationship so I'll leave you guys to your isosceles-ing." Isaac agrees, though he's sure to say, "though if you wanted to do this again, you know casually, I'm interested." Stiles nods.

Greenberg is napping peacefully on the couch when Stiles returns. She directs her face towards him through the sound of his footsteps and raises one eyebrow in what is clearly a 'Where-were-you-young-man-I'm-pissed-but-also-kinda-proud' sort of look. "Don't ask," Stiles says and the second eyebrow joins the first high up her forehead. "Fine." Stiles says, and walks across the room to sit by her feet. She scoots her legs in so he can sit back, and then puts them onto his lap, still not having opened her eyes. "Last night I slept with Isaac. It's totally fine, since their whole triangle of love is open but it's kind of weird, you know? I guess I just-" he sighs raggedly, and takes a moment before continuing, "-I guess I've been in the closet for so long that it's just scary to be out, you know? Before now the only person who knew I was gay was Scott and now I just feel compelled to announce it to everyone but also to scamper back in to the safety of it. I'm scared." Greenberg is petting his arm affectionately by this point, and coos "oh honey, it's always hard coming out. You don't have to do it all at once, you don't even have to do it at all. Just do whatever feels right for you. If you want to tell your friends then do it, if not then just wait it out. Know that I love you and support you though. No matter what." Stiles smiles a bit and then lays down, cuddling up against Greenberg and saying "I'm so glad I got assigned to your room." Greenberg says, "me too. Just remember rule number 4." Stiles laughs, and drifts to sleep.

Once the two of them wake up they make a nice hangover breakfast and then sit together on the couch while eating. Greenberg says, apropos of nothing, "you really should tell Scott you slept with his boyfriend while he was out of town though. I recognize that it's fine and everything but he'll probably appreciate hearing it from you." Stiles hadn't considered that aspect, honestly, and isn't sure whether or not he agrees. Should Isaac tell him? Isaac is in a relationship with him; but then again Stiles is his best friend. He's still debating the merits, making a pros and cons list, when his phone rings. "Stiles," Cora says in lieu of a greeting, "I confronted Derek about his freaky behaviour. All he's telling me is that he has feelings for someone and that it's none of my business. Just thought I'd let you know." She then hangs up. Stiles goes back to sleep.

Lydia loves December. It's pretty and cold and somewhat terrifying in its majesty; honestly a lot like her. She's arrived at the Coffee Lab as per Stiles' request about thirty minutes early as per routine. While she waits, she fixes her makeup and then sits patiently, assessing the area. Stiles arrives, towing behind him a tall, tanned beauty with dark hair and green eyes. She's toned, and Lydia can tell from the look in her eyes that she is very intelligent. Lydia is officially interested, and accordingly she perks up as they approach. "Stiles," she purrs. "How are you honey? And you must be Greenberg, yeah?" Stile blushes while Greenberg nods. Lydia smiles and Stiles smiles and Greenberg is suspicious that these are pod people. After maybe an hour Stiles is regretting this decision infinitely and is also terrified for the future of this planet now that the two of them are friends. They are currently discussing the socio-economic downfall of America and Stiles decides that this is enough. He leaves the two of them to plot the downfall of the free world and sets off on his own.

Since he never actually got to drink his latte (Greenberg decided she didn't like hers and insisted they switch, Stiles found the drink he received repugnant) he heads to the next best coffee shop. There's a slight dusting of snow, and as he knows from extensive research into California's history it's the first snowfall of it's kind at Berkeley since 1975. He smiles while his feet crunch the frost and when he steps through the door he walks directly into a solid wall. The wall is warm to the touch and seems to be breathing at a fairly even pace. The wall has a face. The person Stiles has just walked directly into is Derek, and Stiles is entirely chagrined. "Oh." Says Derek, "uh, Hi Stiles?" Stiles' eyes roll so far back into his head that he watches some of his brain cells die from second-hand embarrassment. "Hey, Derek," he says and Derek stares at him for a minute before it occurs to him to back up. Derek glances up and down his form before saying "Uh. I was just on my way out." Stiles nods for a while before what Derek has said actually sinks in and then he steps out of the way too quickly and bumps into another customer. Derek looks as though he is either nauseous or holding in laughter, and either way he excuses himself and flees quickly. Stiles is coming to recognize this as his modus operandi.

Boyd has missed Erica. Once he is back from Lydia's parents' place in Beacon Hills he seeks her out immediately and fucks her against a shelf in the library (don't worry, she says, this is the section for particle physics and I have never once seen someone here) until the two of them are picking themselves up and dressing out of breath and kissing, then, passionately and for upwards of an hour before Erica has to get to a class which has a test today and Boyd needs to sleep. Boyd knows that is just the beginning of him trying desperately to catch up; Lydia was quite demanding once on her home turf and Boyd loved every minute of it. He texts both of them and tells them that they are going out to a fancy dinner. Lydia texts back 'dress nice' and Erica texts back 'I want lobster.' The restaurant is fancy for the area, expensive and with quite a history of celebrity patrons. Lydia looks stunning in a little black dress "straight from Coco" as she says, and somehow Erica gets away with hearing her vinyl catsuit by pairing it with a nice enough jacket and some respectable heels.

Greenberg is amused, to say the least, about the various dramas afflicting her (somehow entirely freshman) social circle. This random resurgence of a free-love polyamorous lifestyle is pretty entertaining. (Not that she's judging them, if they're happy then go for it.) She finds an exceptional amount of joy in teasing Stiles about his very clear feelings for Derek and his absolute refusal to see what's happening. She says things like "you know once I saw Derek naked" and watches Stiles' face turn scarlet before he stammers something about "why would I care about that?" She says "Our freshman year Derek got drunk and kissed the guy who was playing Romeo in the school production because they were running the lines and he took it too serious." And Stiles just stutters, flushes, and scampers away listening to the echo of Greenberg's laugh. In any case, whether or not it helps those two fools get together, it gives her lots of free time to study (and plan out more hilarious things to say to Stiles. He's cute when he blushes.)

Scott is sitting on his bed, face buried in a book, when there's a knock on his door. He was enjoying a rare period of free time, Isaac and Allison have gone out for the evening and Scott would have accompanied them but he's already two chapters behind in half of his classes and besides, they need time alone too. He gets up and answers the door, happily surprised to see Stiles on the other side. They hug it out and then Scott walks back in to the room, pulling a couple beers out of their mini fridge and handing one to his best friend. "Hey," he says while twisting open his bottle and tossing the cap absentmindedly behind him. Stiles smiles and says "hey, man." Scott is suspicious. Normally the two of them would have fallen directly back into their easy, practiced camaraderie but something seems off. Stiles is still standing, quietly, by the door and Scott is becoming concerned. "Is there something wrong?" He asks, and Stiles flinches, before rushing out "I slept with Isaac on Thanksgiving. Even though he said your guys' relationship is open and everything I was still scared to tell you because this is so weird this entire situation is so weird. I'm gay and you're bi and you're in this relationship and then I just crashed into one of the walls of your love triangle and..." Scott cuts him off by laughing, a bit, at how ridiculously minor this is compared to what he expected. "You know, I am kinda pissed about that. Only because you didn't trust enough in our friendship to just let me know. You wait weeks after sleeping with me boyfriend to let me know? That kinda sucks." Stiles nods, sadly, along with the whole speech and at the end of it they're hugging and they might be crying a bit but if they are it'll stay between the two of them (just like when Stiles' mom died, and when Scott's dad left, and when Scott came out, and when Stiles came out.)

Stiles apologizes fourteen times and Scott brushes off every single one. Stiles says, in between very dignified and manly tears, "I'm just so lonely. I feel like since we came here all I have is Greenberg and Cora. It's not your fault, you're busy and I get it and it's fine but I just... I wish I had someone. Why didn't I meet the love(s) of my life on my first day of college?" Scott shrugs, and says "who knows. Maybe it's not time yet. Hell, maybe you did and just don't know yet?" Stiles laughs and says, "no I don't think Greenberg is the love of my life. Rule number 4 and all." The two of them share a laugh and the drama is forgotten. Stiles tells Scott to get back to studying, and he calls Cora once he's out in the hall. "What, bitch?" she answers and he grins. "We need to do something fun tonight. Let's go out and get some dinner and then get wasted." She agrees, and the two of them meet up at a small, quiet, off-campus restaurant and the night is full of laughter. Once they get to Cora's room, however, and break into her stash of booze, things take a turn for the dramatic. They get onto the topic of relationships and Cora says "Christ this Erica thing just sucks. I've been in love with that girl for five years and I let her lead me on because at least like, it was just because she's straight right? But now. It's not even that she's straight, she just doesn't like me but didn't want to put me out of my misery and let me continue right on embarrassing myself. Fuck her." Stiles nods along, agreeing in the appropriate places, and then Cora says, "fuck all that noise. I'm over it. I don't have time for that shit. How is your love life going? Find any good girls?" And Stiles is confronted with a choice between remaining in the closet or continuing to trust his friends. "Actually," he says hesitantly and she takes this the wrong way, shouting gleefully and demanding a name. "No. No no no." He says. "Cora, listen. I have to tell you something. I'm gay." She smiles brightly and grabs him up in a tight hug. "I know baby. I'm glad you're making the choice to be honest with us." Stiles hugs her back and says "It's more about being honest with myself, really." She nods. She's been there.

There's a knock at the door, and when Cora opens it, Derek is standing there. Because of where Cora is standing, his view of Stiles is blocked. "Hey sis," he says, "Sorry for not texting I just wanted to talk about S-" he cuts off as he walks further into the room and catches sight of Stiles, "-something." Stiles stares at him for a second before waving a bit. "Hi, Stiles." Derek says. "Hi," replies Stiles. Cora, still standing in the open doorway, says "well this is sufficiently awkward without me," and walks out the door, closing it behind her. The two men stand around in silence for a minute (a full minute, not 'minute' as in a general unit of time, notes Stiles) and then both of them make to sit on the couch at the same time, stop to allow the other to sit down, and then slowly sit down together. All in all it's fairly mortifying for everyone involved. "So..." starts Derek before stopping to think of something to say. "Uh, how are your classes going?" He finishes. Stiles rolls his eyes so hard he gets dizzy. "Fine I guess," he says, "yours?" Derek sits quietly for a moment. "Uh, fine." Then it is silent. "How are things with Isaac?" Derek says at last, and Stiles quirks up an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh, fine I guess. We're friends. What? Why?" Derek rolls his eyes (Stiles is suddenly fairly annoyed) and says "well aren't you part of that weird sex commune your friends have going on?"

Stiles. Is pissed. "First of all. Excuse the fuck out of you? Sex commune? Go fuck yourself you crazy hermit. Six of my close friends are in healthy, consenting, polyamorous relationships which are frankly none of your fucking business and how dare you fucking judge them. Just because you're so antisocial and, honestly, intimidatingly awkward and creepy to the point you've probably never felt love for someone, much less had sex, you think you're some high and mighty fucking Lord? Fuck you. You are a judgmental, self-absorbed sociopath and you can go ahead and forget I even exist. Good day, sir."

On his way back to his dorm, Stiles makes the decision to come out to everyone the next time they're all together. He resolves to fight stupid bullshit like that for the rest of his life.

Over the next few weeks the light dusting of snow, which was in itself an oddity, turns into a freak blizzard that has the campus completely isolated. It's unfortunate, Cora thinks, that the blizzard arrives right before Christmas and not after. Being trapped at college for New Years Eve sounds like a good time. Being trapped for Christmas? Not so much. Since all of the gang are certain to miss their family dreadfully, Lydia has decided to plan a two-or-three day Christmas party just for their group starting on Christmas Eve and continuing on as necessary. Cora is not entirely convinced that she will prefer this to staying alone in her dorm for the length of the blizzard, but the fact that Lydia will certainly have more alcohol and food than she does weighs in favor of the party. She dresses in so many layers that she can hardly walk (her cutest outfit being the bottom layer) and makes her way through the white towards Boyd's apartment.

Once inside, their fingers burned with the awful feeling of blood rushing into numb extremities. Layers are shed quickly as the group slowly assemble and they get into the party, drinking spiked eggnog and cider and eventually, straight shots. It isn't long before tensions run high; exacerbated by alcohol, everyone's want for family bubbles over into a melting pot of personal drama. Allison watches as Erica purrs something to Cora, stoking her face, and then immediately turns to give Lydia a deep kiss. Cora swats Erica's hand away and begins shouting at her to stop teasing her and flirting with her and just leave her alone. Lydia then begins calling Cora out for being rude at her party and it's only Boyd's intervention which prevents an all-out brawl. Stiles, who had been avoiding Derek studiously all night, runs into him in the kitchen and Allison watches as their quiet glares turn into an all-out argument over Derek's insistence on hanging out with the group despite the fact that he has insulted the relationships of a majority of the members and besides, the only one who wants him here is Cora. This sets Cora off again, as she jumps to her brother's defense but simultaneously defends her best friend. It's only after the sparks of those arguments that she hears Scott and Isaac's conversation quickly becoming heated and rising in volume. Isaac shouts "Just admit it Scott, you like Allison more. It's fine just fucking say it. You don't have to stay with me just because I'm your roommate. The two of you always go off together and I hardly get to spend time with either of you. You're both so distant. Christ, are you even bisexual? Have you been with a guy before? Because you probably should have told me if not." Scott stands from where he was seated on the couch and takes two fast steps away from the scene before he spins back to Isaac, face flushed and eyes narrowed predatory, and begins shouting back, "Don't you dare! I love both of you. How can you say that? That I love her more? We only go out together more because when we invite you, you say that you just want to stay home! Allison and I love you, Isaac. And no, I hadn't been with a guy before you but how dare you question my sexuality. Are you even bi? You certainly seem to only be in this for me when we fuck."

At this point Allison has had enough, so she joins Cora on the balcony. The younger woman is angrily smoking a cigarette and Allison holds out two fingers timidly. Cora looks her up and down and then pulls another smoke from her pack and hands it over, lighting the taller woman's cigarette for her. "Thanks," Allison says and Cora smiles. "No problem. Sorry about all that in there. I mean, I know I was only a small part of it but I kinda started it." Allison shakes her head, "don't apologize. Besides, Erica totally started that. Everything you said was true. I've watched her flirt with you constantly since we all met." Cora smiles again, feeling vindicated. By the time they've finished their cigarettes, things seem to have quieted down so they decide to rejoin the party and drink more. Cora notices that Derek is gone. By the time her and Allison have commandeered a bottle of gin and hid in a bedroom, drinking and listening to the sporadic conversation loud enough to make it to them, it's well into Christmas and they laugh the night away.

Isaac wakes up because someone is knocking on Boyd's door. He isn't sure, but it feels like it's way too fucking early for someone to be knocking. He tries to ignore it until he realizes that no one else is waking up, then he continues trying to ignore it until Lydia yells, "someone answer the FUCKING DOOR!" from a bedroom. He climbs off the couch, where he was cuddled with Scott, and slowly slumps his way to the door. He opens it and Greenberg is standing on the other side holding an impressive number of coffee cups in one hand and sighing from relief. "Thank God," she says, "I thought no one would answer and my arm would give out. You're Isaac right? You were dressed like Bruce Banner for Halloween. Take some of these mother fucking coffees before I just throw them inside." He does, because from what he knows of Greenberg she is a boss and definitely someone that he does not want to cross. They sit at the table and chat quietly, handing out coffees as people wake up. Once it's about two in the afternoon (Greenberg showed up around noon) Greenberg decides to look for Stiles. She finds Cora and Allison sharing a bed in one room, knows from experience the door to Boyd's room (which she steadfastly avoids) and finds, of all people, Derek and Stiles asleep and cuddled together in the third bedroom. She forces herself to avoid breaking out into laughter until she has taken a couple pictures with her cell phone, and then leaves the two to wake up together and sort it out. She doesn't tell anyone what she found and instead says that they must have left. Scott says not to worry, since Stiles tends to sleep the entire day after a party and Cora informs them that Derek has an apartment in the same building so he probably went there.

Stiles wakes up around four just long enough to steal covers back from whoever he's sharing the bed with and turn away and fall back asleep. When he wakes up again, at five-thirty, he has his face pillowed against a firm, warm chest and he feels the fuzz of hair against his cheek. He traces his hand down the body of whoever he is with and honestly, Stiles is impressed. The man has a nice, well-muscled body and a very cute furry stomach. He has dark hair, and, as Stiles' hand continues lower under the blanket, is naked and uncut and quite well-endowed. He finally allows himself to look up and sees Derek's face. He jerks his hand away on instinct and the motion wakes Derek, who groans and presses his hands against his eyes. He groans again and then turns to roll onto his side. He initially moves to cuddle up to Stiles and go back to sleep, but one he realizes that there's someone else in the bed his eyes snap open. Up-close, Stiles notices the extremely odd colour of Derek's eyes; hard to pin down but it's like jade and rust and sky at the same time (central heterochromia, says Stiles' inner encyclopedia.) "Uh, hi Derek," Stiles says and Derek flops back onto his back, groans in what seems like utter disappointment, and throws his arm across his eyes. Stiles, in between enjoying the view, marvels at how calm the two of them are being about this whole thing and then starts to think out loud. "I don't think we had sex," he starts, "because, honestly, my ass doesn't hurt and I felt your dick and it certainly would if we did." Derek groans again, and then mumbles something that sounds like "mine does." Stiles swears at the pillow and then turns to face Derek again. "Alright, so we had sex. That's okay, I guess. I don't know. There's not much we can do about it either way so let's just uhhh..." he drifts off and Derek helpfully supplies "forget about it?" Stiles nods, then decides that his head hurts too much for that and says, "yeah I guess." Derek grunts in response, lays there a few minutes longer, and then rises unabashedly and searches for his clothes. Stiles squeaks, flushes, and then says "uh, hey Derek." When the man turns back to face him, he can't stop the moan that forces it's way from his throat. "Do you want to maybe... I mean, since it's already happened and we've already agreed to forget about it do you want to maybe... return the favor before we forget about it?" Derek gives him a studying look, and when his cock twitches Stiles raises his eyes to meet the older man's. He nods a couple times and makes his way back onto the bed, draping himself over Stiles' body and bracketing his head with his arms. Then they kiss.

Eventually, the two of them make their way out of the bedroom and find the apartment empty, assuming the others have gone somewhere, they make their way upstairs to Derek's apartment so they can shower. Derek says "you can go ahead and shower first," but halfway through that turns into a blowjob and then shower sex so it takes them a while to make it into Derek's bedroom. Once there Derek says "you can borrow some of my clothes, if you want," and Stiles obliges him, grabbing some shorts and a thermal that's clearly too big for him. "You look sexy," Derek says and Stiles feels weak at the knees. They return to Boyd's apartment to see if their friends have showed up (no reception, from this crazy blizzard, Stiles finds out once he charges his phone for a second and can check it) and when they walk through the door the group is just about to sit down for Christmas Dinner. "There they are!" says Cora. Greenberg is giving Stiles an odd look but he chooses to ignore it. Scott catches Stiles' eye and gives him a covert thumbs-up, Stiles raises and eyebrow in response and Scott casually reaches up and touches a spot on his neck. Stiles touches the same spot on his own neck as slyly as he can and finds it slightly tender. Damn, Derek left hickeys. They sit, separately, and dig in to the veritable feast in front of them; prime rib, mashed potatoes, stuffing, fresh baked bread, and too many pies. By the end of the meal when everyone is crying out in pain at their excess, they decide to drink some more and spend another night. This party is a lot calmer, and shorter since everyone is full and tired, and by the end of it the snow has stopped and they stand out on the small balcony and enjoy the beauty.

Two days later, after most of the snow has been plowed away and they can make their way back to their own rooms, Stiles tracks down Cora for fear of being alone with Greenberg, who made it very clear that she knew exactly (well, maybe not exactly) what him and Derek had been up to through her expressions alone. "Coraaaaa" he whines into his phone when she finally answers. "Ugh. What." She replies. "I need to talk to you about your psycho brother please?" Cora groans, and says "what now?" Stiles stops pacing and thoroughly debates with himself whether or not to tell her. "I. I slept with Derek. Three times. On Christmas." Cora shrieks into the phone and hangs up suddenly, then texting him "talk to Derek then. What the fuck. Ew. I thought you had taste Derek is a dweeb." Stiles laughs.

Scott, meanwhile, has decided that he is going to prove to Isaac just how much he loves him. Allison understood the need for some catch-up completely (considering she was going to suggest doing the same thing until Scott beat her to it) and she has resigned herself to finding something else to do for a while. The two boys spend a lot of time wandering campus and talking, kissing in the cold and going to see cheap movies together. Isaac quickly regrets his unfounded accusations but Scott insists that Isaac was right and that they weren't spending enough time together. "Besides," Scott says one day, "it's not like it's a chore." In the mean time Allison has found herself reconnecting with Cora after bumming a cigarette from her one day after class. Along with Cora comes the dynamic duo of Stiles and Greenberg who are constantly hilarious with their back-and-forth. The four of them get to know each other and Stiles finds that Boyd was right, if Scott decided that Allison and Isaac were good enough for him they should have been good enough for the whole group. Allison is smart and funny and so kind that it's almost gross. She brings a level-head into the more heated discussions among the three friends and she is a great study partner.

Erica is concerned in the days following Christmas. Thinking about her family led to her thinking about them when she brings home Boyd and Lydia for the first time. Thanksgiving's charade left a bitter taste in her mouth and she refuses to do the same thing next year. But what will her parents say? How will Boyd's family react? Erica doesn't like being a secret. She likes being open and exposed and the center of attention. She likes it when people can't take their eyes off of her. Erica resolutely refuses to be someone's dirty laundry. So what can she do? She decides that someone with an outside perspective should be able to provide some help, and she looks through her phone. Her first instinct is Allison, but she doesn't have her number (or Scott's, or Isaac's as a matter of fact, something she resigns herself to remedy,) so she settles for Stiles. Since she's close to Stiles' dorm anyway, she decides to stop there when she gets out of class.

When Erica knocks on the door, it isn't Stiles who answers, but Greenberg. "Oh hey, it's Cat Woman." She says and Erica gives her a sharp-toothed grin. "I was looking for Stiles," Erica says, "but he doesn't seem to be home. Maybe you can help me, I think Stiles told me you give great advice anyway." Greenberg steps back, opening the door fully and beckoning Erica inside. Her heels click against the floor and her chrome-painted nails ghost over the door frame. Once inside she turns to face Greenberg while she closes the door and says, "So basically I'm concerned about the viability of a polyamorous relationship when it comes to things like family events, and the actual future I can plan for dealing with this." Greenberg stares at her, clearly waiting for her to continue, and then raises one hand. "Praise! Finally one of you kids who doesn't give me a damn soliloquy." She then sits on her couch and looks to Erica seriously. "Alright, well really I'm not exaaaaaactly the best person to talk to about the future realities of a relationship like this because I am hardly an expert on monogamous relationships, much less polyamory. I did have a few people in my classes when I minored in LGBT* studies so I can probably direct you to someone who would know more about that than me. However, in terms of you for right now in this relationship, don't worry too much. Have fun. No matter who you're with and in what consideration there's always a chance that your family won't like it, but it's not their relationship. As long as it is safe for you to do so, be honest with your family but make it clear that you don't appreciate nor intend to heed any of their well-intended advice and that you are going to continue to be yourself and have fun. You're young, do what you want as long as no one gets hurt. If it's not safe though, think about just not telling them about any relationship you're in and let them stew in the mystery." Erica smiles, nods, and thanks Greenberg for the awesome advice. She can see why Stiles likes this woman so much.

Derek is unsure exactly what his life has come to. This time last year he was a stern but fair RA who was well on his way to earning his second degree in English with a minor in Comparative Literature and he had plenty of time to himself. He would hike a lot, spend time reading, and work on his novel. Now Derek is a mess. He is hanging out with his younger sister and her friends, slept with a freshman despite the fact that the kid made it clear that while he wanted sex he had no interest in a relationship, and broke basically every single one of his personal rules. Ever since Kate, Derek has had no interest in pursuing friendships, much less relationships, with anyone. It's been years since he's trusted people outside his family and while Cora tells him that she's proud of how far he's come he knows that really he's backsliding. Every time he sees Stiles he panics, quickly turning and leaving before he's noticed or- if it's too late- saying hello and then excusing himself quickly. Since Christmas he's been in a state of absolute dread; hardly even making his rounds through the halls and essentially reverting back to being a hermit. It takes until the 29th for Derek to realize that it's because he's absolutely head-over-heels in love with Stiles. He panics over that revelation so he immediately calls Cora. "Hello," says Stiles. Derek pulls the phone away and stares at the speaker. He looks at the screen where it says he's on the phone with Stiles and not Cora. He yells and throws the phone as hard as he can across the room, where it shatters against the wall. Then he realizes he's just broken his phone and yells "shit!" Then there's a knock on his door and he yells "shit! Fuck!" Then he calmly answers the door, looks at Stiles, and shuts the door in his face. Stiles slams his fist against the door and says "okay what the fuck is going on. Are you pissed because you fucked a freshman? Are you pissed because I'm such a lose? What the fuck is this all about and why the hell won't you talk to me at all? When I said maybe we should forget about Christmas Eve I didn't mean let's ignore each other completely! That's a terrible idea, seeing as Cora is one of my best friends. The probable success of that is like 4% and that's being generous Derek. THAT'S BEING GENEROUS!" With that he storms away, it sounds like, and Derek sighs in relief, before slumping down against the door and slamming his head into it.

Boyd has found his freshman year thoroughly entertaining so far. From his own awesome relationship to the various dramas of his friends it's been a nonstop joyride of ridiculousness. However, none of his new friends have been half as entertaining as Stiles with their various dramas. From his initial panic over Scott's relationship to his own bull-headed refusal to admit his own feelings it's been quite the show. Thus, he finds himself calling most of the group up to gather at his apartment. "Gang, Stiles is in desperate need of a romance-tervention. Despite the fact that I just made that up on the spot we need to get Stiles and Derek together before one of them pines to death." Lydia, Scott, Allison, and Erica are all nodding along but Greenberg and Isaac seem less supportive and Cora doesn't seem to be paying attention at all. "They'll figure it out on their own time," Cora says and the two dissenters agree. "The last thing I want to do, sorry to say, is meddle in my brother's love life so unfortunately I'm out." She then leaves. Boyd looks to Isaac, who shrugs and says "I don't care either way so I guess I'll help you guys out or whatever," and then he looks to Greenberg who says "I will supervise and help plan I guess but I'm not wasting my time trying to get Stiles some dick." Scott cracks up at that. "So here's what we do," says Greenberg in a suspiciously conspiratorial tone for someone who is uninterested in the end goal of the plan she's about to lay out, "we do everything we can to keep trapping them together no matter what. If we have to separately invite them to the same place and then only they show up, if we have to fake some sort of mystery to attract their attention, if we have to chloroform them and hogtie them and lock them in a closet together, whatever. We just keep putting them in the same place until they have to talk about it. But we have to work quick because New Years Eve is almost here and what better way to get two people so obviously in love together other than a new year's kiss." They all seem satisfied with that plan, so they are completely and utterly unprepared when it doesn't work in the slightest. Since Derek has destroyed his phone in a panic and Cora won't help them, no one in the group can contact him. Stiles, on the other hand, has been obsessively researching different majors to declare and is spending a lot of time with Cora. All in all, their hours of planning and collaborating and attempts to play cupid are an abject waste of time. On the 31st, Greenberg turns to Boyd while she helps him set up and says "honestly, I'm pretty pissed that my elaborate plan failed so spectacularly." Boyd agrees, and seems honestly disappointed that they couldn't get Stiles and Derek into the same place even once over the last two days. Everyone, at this point, has given up hope but Greenberg remains optimistic. She spoke to Cora yesterday, and she thinks her backup plan may just work.

Stiles arrives a short time later, tagging along with Scott and Allison and Isaac. Greenberg claps joyfully and immediately inundates him with liquor. By the time Cora shows up, dragging behind her a clearly apprehensive Derek, the group are too drunk to really make any sort of attempt at forcing the two together. They're all having a good time, luckily the lot of them seem to have worked out the most of their inter-personal drama during the blizzard and at this point even Cora and Erica are laughing together. Greenberg is draped across Cora when Boyd suddenly shouts "Twenty fucking minutes bitches" from his room where him and Lydia disappeared with a bottle of champagne. She springs up, suddenly, and says "Cora. Isn't it about time you smoked a cigarette?" just loudly enough for Derek to overhear from the kitchen. She watches as Cora heads out there and Derek follows close behind (undoubtedly to continue trying to convince his sister to quit, to no avail) and grins to herself. (Step one complete, she thinks.) Isaac, meanwhile has found himself in one of the bedrooms with Scott and Stiles talking about comics. When he hears Boyd's shout he interrupts the conversation to say, "I think I'm in the mood for a cigarette. Stiles, will you come out with me?" Since Scott hates smoking, as it irritates his asthma, Stiles agrees. He almost turns back, when he sees that Derek is out on the balcony with Cora, but decides against it. The four of them chat idly while the two smokers indulge, when suddenly they both toss their cigarette butts over the edge as Boyd shouts, "Ten minutes people!" and quickly step inside, closing and locking the door to the balcony.

Stiles and Derek both start pounding on the door and demanding to be let in, but their friends continue on partying as if they don't exist. They resign themselves to being stuck together at midnight on New Years Eve and sit on the small bench Boyd has out there. Underneath they find a bottle of champagne, so Derek pops it open and they start taking drinks straight from the bottle. It doesn't take long before Stiles says "you know, I still don't know what the hell I did wrong." Derek stares at him before saying, "nothing. It's me. I'm just... I'm broken, Stiles. You're honestly too good for me." Stiles shakes his head, then stops when he gets dizzy. "No that's bullshit. Everyone's broken, Derek. I know you have some sort of baggage but so do I, trust me. We're all fucked in the head and that's why we get along. Honestly, man, I really like you." Derek chuckles. "I kind of think I'm in love with you," he says to Stiles. The freshman looks up in surprise and from inside the group counts down "five, four, three, two, one." And then they kiss. It's just as electric as the first time, (or the first time either of them can remember anyway, from Christmas morning) and they grab at each other, panting against the others' lips and biting and tasting. Derek moans and Stiles sighs and the two of them kiss until they're out of breath and then they drink some more champagne and kiss some more.

While the two triangles of love have faded into bedrooms for the evening, Cora and Greenberg sit on the couch, looking out at the patio, and admiring their work. "I knew we could do it," Greenberg says and Cora smiles because Derek is happy again, happy like he hasn't been in years. "Happy new year," Cora says and then turns to look at the woman beside her. Greenberg catches her eye and smiles, widely, before leaning in and catching the girl's lips with her own. They kiss until Stiles and Derek start banging on the door again because they get too cold, and then they all laugh together.


End file.
